Surgery Godfather

Chapter 2237: Chapter 1457: Unknown Factor 2

Yang Ping no longer said anything and walked towards Weber’s laboratory.

Weber was indeed already inside. He was wearing a White Gown, donned gloves, and was operating inside the super-clean bench. His movements were steady, showing no signs of fatigue, but Yang Ping noticed distinct dark circles under his eyes and bloodshot eyes.

"Weber," Yang Ping called out.

Weber turned his head, saw Yang Ping, and smiled, "Professor, you’re just in time. I’ve just finished inoculating the cells. This time I’ve set four temperature conditions: room temperature exposure for five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes, plus a control group that maintains at thirty-seven degrees the entire time."

"Didn’t you sleep well last night?" Yang Ping asked.

"Slept a bit," Weber said nonchalantly, "Lay down for two hours in the Resting Room, it’s enough. Back in Germany, I used to work for forty-eight hours straight; I was young then. Now, although I can’t compare to those days, I’m not far off."

Yang Ping looked at him, frowned slightly.

"Once you finish this batch of experiments, you must go home and rest. This is not a suggestion; it’s a demand. Experimental results obtained in a fatigued state, I cannot trust."

Weber opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but seeing Yang Ping’s expression, he swallowed back his words.

"Alright, I’ll go back once I’m done," Weber said.

Yang Ping nodded and turned to leave the Laboratory. He went to Manstein’s office, the door was open, but the person was not there. Upon asking the adjacent Student, he learned Manstein had gone to the proteomics platform; there was a slight issue with the mass spectrometer, and he went to handle it.

Yang Ping then went to the proteomics platform.

Manstein was squatting by the mass spectrometer, holding a wrench, tightening something. His White Gown was stained with grease, and his hair was messy, looking like he’d been there for a long time.

"Professor, just wait a bit longer, three more minutes," Manstein said without lifting his head.

Yang Ping didn’t speak, standing beside, watching.

Manstein’s movements were skilled, twisted a few turns, then adjusted something with a screwdriver, finally stood up, and pressed the start button. The mass spectrometer emitted a low humming sound, and a line of green text appeared on the screen: System self-test passed.

"Done." Manstein clapped his hands, "This is the mass spectrometry verification data for the unknown factor I mentioned, completed just yesterday, hasn’t had time for detailed analysis."

He opened a software on the adjacent computer, bringing up a set of data. The screen displayed a dense array of peak graphs, each peak representing a peptide segment, with each peptide segment corresponding to a part of a protein.

"Look here." Manstein pointed at one of the peaks, "This peptide segment appeared in the conditioned medium for three independent preparations but not in the control medium. I searched the database, and this peptide could only match that unknown protein, no other known protein can produce the same peptide."

Yang Ping looked at that peak, then at the nearby mass spectrum graph, asking, "How is the match rate?"

"Ninety-nine point seven percent," Manstein said, "This means it’s almost certain that this protein indeed exists in the conditioned medium. It’s neither contamination nor a false positive but truly exists."

Yang Ping nodded, the verification result was very solid. Mass spectrometry is the Gold Standard for protein identification, ninety-nine point seven percent match rate, leaving basically no room for dispute.

"What about the functional experiment?" Yang Ping asked.

Manstein lifted his chin slightly, "On Weber’s side, he designed a new scheme yesterday to verify the impact of temperature exposure time. I just heard he didn’t go back last night, working in the Laboratory all night?"

"Yes, I just came from there, telling him to go back and rest once this batch is done."

Manstein shook his head, "That Weber, he was like this when younger, wouldn’t sleep if the experiment didn’t pan out. But this isn’t good, research is a marathon, not a sprint. Running too fast, will collapse halfway."

Yang Ping smiled slightly, "I’ll have someone watch him, once he’s done, have him go back. If not, I’ll find two Doctorates to escort him back to sleep."

"That’s what I think too. By the way, you mentioned in yesterday’s email about that discovery." Manstein turned around, eyes bright, "You said you discovered some information about this unknown factor in the protein database?"

Yang Ping walked to the computer, logged into that protein database, and input the string of numbers.

The page loaded, he turned the screen towards Manstein.

Manstein leaned closer to look, reading line by line. His expression changed from calm to surprised, from surprised to excited, finally turning into deep contemplation.

"This domain..." Manstein pointed at a line of text, "This is the key domain for intercellular communication. If this protein indeed contains this domain, then it might not act alone but as a signal molecule, transmitting information between cells."

"And look here." Yang Ping pointed to another line, "This protein’s expression is highest in the nervous system, especially in the spinal cord and brainstem. This is directly related to your spinal cord injury repair experiments."

Manstein was silent for a good ten seconds, then slowly spoke, "Professor, have you ever thought about a question?"

"What question?"

"This protein, it originally exists within the human body."

Yang Ping nodded slightly, he’d thought of this too, Manstein articulating it meant their thoughts were aligned.

"If that’s the case, then our research direction needs to adjust. From searching for new molecules to finding ways to activate endogenous molecules. The former is a replacement; the latter is regulation. Regulation is more elegant, safer, and aligns better with our balance theory."

"Exactly!" Manstein nodded vigorously, "Plus, regulation costs less, easier to promote. A small molecule drug activating endogenous molecules might have production costs only one percent of cell therapy, much more convenient for storage and transportation. Professor, how am I discovering your few significant theories miraculously connected?"

Yang Ping slowly said, "This is precisely the question that’s been occupying my thoughts. Perhaps, there’s an unseen hand orchestrating all of this, these theories merely different manifestations of that hand."

The two stood in front of the computer for a while, without speaking. The page of that unknown factor quietly hung there, like a door just cracked open. What’s behind the door, nobody knows, but the light streaming through that crack is already enough to excite people.

Yang Ping broke the silence, "I’ll head back to the office first. Over here, organize the mass spectrometry data into a complete report. At next week’s project team meeting, specifically discuss the discovery of this unknown factor."

"Okay!" Manstein nodded.

Yang Ping walked out of the proteomics platform, glanced at his phone. Xu Zhiliang sent a WhatsApp message: "Professor, the family will be here at two this afternoon. I’ve booked the small Meeting Room in Neurosurgery."

He replied with "Good," then headed towards the office.

At Noon, he ate a simple meal at the Institute’s cafeteria, then returned to the office, flipping through the K Therapy case data Lu Xiaolu sent at dawn.

Eight brainstem glioma cases, two DIPGs, the best effect was on a nine-year-old boy, diagnosed with DIPG then undergoing radiotherapy and temozolomide chemotherapy, yet the Tumor continued progressing. Joined the K Therapy, received intravenous infusion every four weeks, combined with oral temozolomide. After six months of treatment, MRI showed the Tumor decreased by forty percent, Clinical symptoms significantly improved, no longer needed assistance walking, facial asymmetry almost completely recovered. After twelve months of treatment, the Tumor continued shrinking; although the speed slowed down, the trend was still positive.

Yang Ping compiled the effect data of these eight cases into a table, then summarized the mechanism and theoretical basis of K Therapy in layman’s terms, preparing to use them when explaining to the family in the afternoon.

At one-thirty, he packed his things, heading to the small Meeting Room in Neurosurgery.

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